


New employment

by FreeShavocadoo



Category: HiGH&LOW (Movies), HiGH&LOW: the Story of S.W.O.R.D. (TV)
Genre: Acceptance, Discovery, M/M, Motivations, Multi, Relationship Beginnings, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-15 04:33:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15405063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreeShavocadoo/pseuds/FreeShavocadoo
Summary: Takano reminisces on his time with Doubt and what it means to him.





	New employment

Doubt had a reputation that far exceeded its beginnings. Within good reason, the group had few limitations on its cruelty and violence and the members took full advantage of this. What had started off with a small number of people confined to one building now spread wide over the sword region, with multiple factions and operations depending on the area. However, the reputation of Doubt was only exceeded by the reputation of its leader.

Ranmaru Hayashi was hardly the obvious choice as a leader. His temper was as unpredictable as his fighting, he had little patience for disobedience of any kind and didn’t seem to have a temperament that suited someone who was responsible for other people. However, outside of fighting Ranmaru was an enigma. He would sit quietly for hours on end, just thinking, smoking the occasional cigarette and keeping to himself. Back when Kizzy and Kaito were still members of Doubt, Ranmaru just shrugged and nodded at Kizzy’s revelation, addressed her correctly and told them to stop fucking around and get to work.

The first time Takano had met Ranmaru, he was fighting. Takano is unsure as to whether the word fighting is an accurate description for a man who will kick, punch, scratch and bite his way through his opponents. He used everything in his surroundings to his advantage, but the reason Ranmaru was so hard to beat, Takano thinks, is that he has no fear of injuring himself. A man with so self-preservation skills is one that you don’t want to mess with.

 

* * *

 

 

_The bodies on the floor are writhing in agony, small whimpers of pain the only noise as Ranmaru stands in the middle of it all, bloody knuckles and a big smile. His eyes are ablaze and Takano wonders if this man has always been like this, never content to live a life without blood on his knuckles and scars on his skin._

_“You wanna go?” Ranmaru had stared at him, grinning with his teeth and staring hungrily._

_Takano had been working with these guys a while, people who collected debts. Usually from those who couldn’t afford to take out loans in the first place, but that was the general idea. They were hard men, used to having to rough up people and fight to get their money back if need be, which was why Takano had decided to work with them in the first place. Seeing them all lay on the floor with this man standing there, radiating such an energy it’s like Takano cannot bring himself to even dare to look away, has him dangerously intrigued._

_“I’ve got a brain, thank you.” Takano had replied, startled by the sudden bellowing laughter. He can’t help but note how Ranmaru had looked so young when he laughed, keeling over like the wind had been knocked out of him, holding onto his knees._

_“Good man,” he’d stared with curiosity in his eyes, “what’s your name?”_

_“Takano.” He wondered at the time why he’d felt compelled to say anything at all, to stay and talk with this man who had just wiped out these guys like they were nothing. Sometimes Takano thinks, Ranmaru isn’t the only one who lacks self-preservation._

_“Well, Takano. I’m Ranmaru. It looks like you’re in need of a new employer.” He’d said, smirking as though he knew Takano would accept, as though he knew that there was something lacking in Takano’s life at this exact moment and that being offered a way out had been exactly what he’d needed._

_“I guess you could say that.”_

 

* * *

 

 

They’d been with each other for years by this point, knowing each other startlingly well. Between the pair of them, they were hardly open books. Ranmaru was deliberately secretive about his past, offering only breadcrumbs, enough to keep Takano curious but not enough to satisfy his curiosity. He was sure he could fill in the blanks, though. Takano himself struggled to really tell anyone anything beyond the superficial, always aware that people naturally were judgemental, that they cared little for any justification and more about the action. He was certain, however, that they had a good thing going.

Until Hirai had showed up.

Takano could not fathom what Ranmaru could see in him. For Takano, Hirai was whiny, entitled and bratty. All the traits Takano had hated in his previous partners, Hirai had, including the tendency to know that Takano hated it and deliberately choose to rile him up by exaggerating it. Hirai was a liability in every sense of the word, enjoying spontaneity and seeking adrenaline. Whilst it was beneficial to have someone around that wasn’t actually intimidated by the work they embroiled themselves in, Hirai had little semblance of obedience and the only person he seemed to listen to was Ranmaru. The nail in the coffin was that Ranmaru clearly entertained Hirai’s bratty behaviour and practically rewarded him at every corner for it, only furthering Takano’s dislike for him.

From it’s inception, Doubt had been hard to handle and Takano often bore the brunt of people’s discontent, for no sane person would ever stand before Ranmaru with complaints. What Takano hadn’t expected in the beginning was to be undermined and overlooked so easily. Whilst he was aware that at the time he’d looked like nothing special, shaggy hair, lanky and narrow eyed, he’d never assumed that people would be so fast to disregard him. Hirai seemed to thrive on this, assuming wrongly that Takano was now lower on the totem pole purely because Hirai had the benefit of being openly under Ranmaru’s protection.

Well, he’d proved Hirai wrong.

 

* * *

 

 

_The scissors and clippers lie discarded in the sink, the grimy mirror offering little in the way of help yet Takano had prevailed anyway. When he wipes at the mirror, he has to take a second to truly look at himself, running his hand over smooth skin, feeling it under his fingertips and struggling to relate it with the face he sees in the mirror. This wouldn’t be the first time he’d reinvented himself. Men had been underestimating him for years, even as he shed every skin that reminded him of his past self. The injections had been the beginning, then the surgeries had followed. Years of saving money through unsavoury methods had meant he had the expenses and here he was. Beneath every mask he’d ever placed on his face, the one he’s staring at in the mirror lay beneath it all. Stripped back, bare of any concealment, bare of presumptions. It had taken years to get here, but Takano is fully aware some of the scars he has will remain on his mind a lot longer than they will remain on his body. One more layer was hardly going to kill him._

_As soon as he steps out into the main room of Doubt’s headquarters, Ranmaru glances up at him from where he’s sitting. His expression doesn’t shift at all, but he motions for Takano to move closer so he does. Ranmaru’s fingers are calloused as they run over Takano’s head, running all the way over the expanse of his head down to his neck in one movement, humming softly._

_“Suits you.” He says simply, patting Takano’s cheek non-too-gently, “you actually look like yourself now.”_

_Of course, Takano thinks, Ranmaru has always known, although Takano doesn’t know how. When he’d later asked, Ranmaru had just said to him that he looked like someone who was running away from himself. Takano thinks in a way, this makes sense. All the money, all of the changes later, he still stood around waiting for something he didn’t know to arrive. It’s like all of his drive had left him, that he’d shed more than just his skin all those years ago. Ranmaru tells him that it’s natural to lose your way after getting what you want and Takano agrees, wondering if Ranmaru was the key to opening himself this entire time._

_Hirai stares from where he is sitting, his mouth agape and his eyes like saucers. For once, no words escape his mouth, he simply stares in complete awe. When Takano sits beside him as he usually does, Hirai turns his head to continue staring, until he practically crawls onto Takano’s lap, grabbing onto his cheeks roughly._

_“Wow,” he breathes out, his eyelashes fluttering, “you look beautiful.”_

_His hand cups the back of Takano’s neck, with a hand much smaller and softer than Ranmaru’s but just as lacking in gentleness, his gaze inquisitive._

  _“Why the sudden change, Takano-chan?” He sings, moving until he’s comfortably seated, Takano restraining himself from shoving Hirai off._

_“Because I felt like it.” He replies, scowling. It only seems to inflame Hirai’s new obsession, making him grin and lean back into Takano’s touch. Takano would be lying if he said he didn’t like the sensation of being this close to someone, regardless of how irritating they were. Hirai’s hands weren’t presumptuous or deliberate, they were naïve. He found it oddly endearing._

* * *

 

 

It was always the threat you didn’t see coming that was the most dangerous, which in this case, would have been Hirai. It didn’t matter how many times Takano told him to mind his own business and leave him alone, Hirai would always come swinging back around, hanging onto Takano’s arm and whining loudly about his lack of affection. He would pull on Takano’s sleeve to get his attention and kiss him when he felt like he was being ignored, much to Ranmaru’s amusement. In his words, it was easier to give Hirai what he wanted. So one day, Takano decided he would try to deduce what Hirai wanted.

 

* * *

 

 

_“Takano-chan, why are you so grumpy today?” Hirai whines, sitting beside him on the couch, swinging his legs._

_“Fuck off.” Takano growls, looking away, wondering at what point Hirai will ever just give up trying and go away. Deep down, Takano is aware he’s more afraid of Hirai doing just that than he’d ever admit, wondering if Hirai will look at him like so many others had and see only what they didn’t want, not was Takano was._

_“Stop playing hard to get, Takano.” Hirai’s voice drops uncharacteristically low, lacking its usual whine and for a moment, Takano stares at him, transfixed. His eyes look like they are fully black, swallowed entirely by his pupils. He bites his lip slowly before crawling towards Takano, stopping right beside him and trapping him in the corner of the couch between his arms. Takano knows he could easily get away, push Hirai off. But he stays._

_Hirai kisses like he’s running late, like he needs to take everything he can from Takano as soon as possible, his arms around his neck and his mouth moving quickly. Even when he bites Takano’s lip, Takano barely gets respite to breathe before Hirai’s mouth is back on him, dragging down his neck torturously. His hands move up the back of Takano’s shirt before shifting to the front and Takano grabs onto his wrists, pulling away._

_“Takano-chan. I’m going to say this plainly for you now,” he exhales, “I’m under no illusions as to who you are. You made that clear the moment you walked in here with me the first time. You also made it clear when you decided to shave your hair off. Now I’m making it clear that I fucking want you. So unless you don’t want me, in which case I’ll leave, give me a small fucking nod and let me ravish you.”_

_Takano can barely breathe, let alone speak, so he nods slowly. When Hirai’s hands resume their frantic movements, Takano lets himself go completely for once, the control, the emptiness, all of it. And there Hirai was, making him whole._

* * *

 

 

By the time Takano had deemed it appropriate to inform Ranmaru, Ranmaru laughs in his face and gives him a scathing stare.

“Do I look fucking blind to you?” He growls, shaking his head violently, “you’re _mine._ Of course I know about every single pair of hands other than mine that touch you.”

The air in the room seems heavier and harder to swallow, but Takano tries to breathe slowly, letting Ranmaru’s words wash over him. He knows that their relationship makes so sense to anyone, that nobody in their right mind would have been with Ranmaru for this many years in more ways than one. Yet when Ranmaru’s hands were on him, there was no revenge or resentment behind his touches. There was no bitterness, there was only Ranmaru, staring at him like he knew exactly what he was thinking, like he knew exactly what he wanted. With Ranmaru, he usually did know exactly what Takano wanted.

“At least now you won’t be jealous over him.” Ranmaru sighs, staring up at the ceiling.

“Jealous?” Takano replies, narrowing his eyes.

“Yes. You knew I liked him. Isn’t that why you hated him so much?” Ranmaru replies, looking back at Takano. Takano isn’t really sure if this is the case or not, although it might make some sense. That he would be jealous at Ranmaru being with someone else when he was the only one that Takano wanted. Until now, anyway.

“What are we talking about?” Hirai bounces in from the doorway, sitting on Ranmaru’s lap right away. Takano notices the way Ranmaru’s arms instantly wind around Takano’s waist, holding him tightly. Hirai smiles, cupping Ranmaru’s cheeks in his hands. For the millionth time, Takano is taken aback by how soft they both look, how beautiful they are. Ranmaru’s face is relaxed and he looks all the younger for it, his dark eyes softening and his mouth curving upwards into a smile. Hirai looks overjoyed at the attention, peppering kisses all over Ranmaru’s face. Takano still finds it funny that Ranmaru likes such sickly shows of affection.

“These are for you.” Takano clears his throat, throwing two small boxes at the pair that Hirai catches, a curious look on his face. In typical Hirai fashion, he doesn’t wait for confirmation to open the box and just does it right away, gasping a little.

“How beautiful!” He preens, holding up a small gold chain necklace, placing it near his neck at turning to Ranmaru who looks insanely amused. He takes the necklace from Hirai’s hands gently, telling Hirai to turn a little as he puts the necklace around his neck, clasping it shut for him. Hirai turns back around and grins at Ranmaru.

“Well. How do I look?” He giggles, only egged on by Ranmaru’s fond stare.

“Delicious.” He growls, opening the other box and holding the identical necklace out to Takano. “Do the honours.”

Takano takes the necklace from him, running his fingers deliberately over the skin above Ranmaru’s shirt, closing the necklace shut over his turtleneck. Ranmaru fiddles with it briefly before staring at Takano with an uncharacteristically affectionate look on his face.

“Who knew my man was so sentimental?” He teases, pulling Takano down for a kiss and ignoring Hirai’s wining, pushing him off his lap, resulting in an unceremonious thud. Takano laughs into the kiss, moving back to place a kiss on Ranmaru’s cheek. Hirai stands up, latching his arms around Takano’s waist.

“Does this mean we’re yours now, Takano-chan?” He whispers, kissing Takano’s hand and making his heart hurt all over again.

“Yeah. I guess it does.”

**Author's Note:**

> Erm. Yeah. Not an advocate for Doubt as a group but I find it interesting to write for them regardless. Hope this was a good read.


End file.
